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"Never under any condition should this nation look at an immigrant as primarily a labor unit. He should always be looked at primarily as a future citizen."-Theodore Roosevelt, 1917

"It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people."-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Isaona i tumungo’ ya ha sedi, ki ayo i mismo umisagui hao. Greater is the fault of he who allows the injustice upon himself. "-Chamorro proverb

"There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves." -Jose Rizal

"I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights." -Bishop Desmond Tutu

Disclaimer: This is not a legal blog. No opinion or statement should be perceived as legal advice. All posts are the opinion of the author or contributors who are expressing their First Amendment Rights.

"You are either for maintaining America's tradition of incorporating generations of immigrant families into America through a controlled and orderly process or you are not. You are either for getting immigration under control by making legality and visas an option for immigrants or you are not. You are either for making sure we have fair laws evenly enforced so that members of our society share the same rights and responsibilities as citizens and taxpayers or you are not. And you either think the type of people who are immigrants today can and will become full partners in our shared destiny -- just as our forefathers and mothers did when people doubted them -- or you do not. There has always been a small number of Americans opposed to incorporating immigrants fully into society and they have always been wrong." Rep. Luis Guiterrez

As predicted, the immigration "champions" are starting to speak out against Senator Rubio's attempt to woe Latino voters by offering the broken dream of permanent non-citizenship to the undocumented youth who have spent most of their lives in the United States. They should. Every American who believes in our country's

In a Huffington Post article, The Stolen Dreams Act, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) attacked Senator Rubio's proposal that would alter the DREAM Act. The original DREAM ACT would provide certain undocumented children of alien workers with permanent residency and a pathway to citizenship. Rubio's bill would provide them with a "non citizen for life" status, like Sablan's un-American, un-democratic legislation for some of the foreign workers of the CNMI.

Rep. Gutierrez correctly states that the undocumented foreign born children were brought to this country through no choice of their own. Most came as very young children because their parents wanted to keep their families together after they landed jobs in the U.S.

What Gutierrez did not say is that, just like Senator Rubio, he too supports a bill that would provide a non-citizen, un-American status for alien workers. In fact Gutierrez co-sponsored H.R 1466, a bill that provides a similar non-citizen status proposed by Rubio. Yet H.R. 1466 is even more insulting and unjust because H.R. 1466 addresses the inferior status for the CNMI's long-term foreign workers who are legal. Even worse, H.R. 1466excludes any legal alien who will not eventually be in line for status by virtue of having an immediate relative spouse or child. Under H.R. 1466, legal, long-term foreign workers who lived and worked legally in the CNMI, on U.S. soil for 5, 10, 15, 20 or more years are excluded if they are not married to a U.S. citizen, do not have a U.S. citizen child, are gay, or are unmarried. This is certainly not "incorporating immigrants fully into society".

Until Rep. Gutierrez removes his name from H.R. 1466, should he be criticizing another member of Congress who proposes similar unjust status? How can a person who states, "You are either for making sure we have fair laws evenly enforced so that members of our society share the same rights and responsibilities as citizens and taxpayers or you are not. And you either think the type of people who are immigrants today can and will become full partners in our shared destiny -- just as our forefathers and mothers did when people doubted them -- or you do not", co-sponsor a bill that would perpetual the disenfranchisement and restrict the travel of of thousands of legal alien workers? Fair law? Certainly not. Rep. Gutierrez, you are either for a just immigration policy for all on U.S. soil, or you are not.

6
comments:

spoiler
said...

Had Kilili offered a blanket amnesty bill for CNMI former contract workers, which 75 percent of Americans oppose, this is what would have happened.

1. It would not have been considered by the Democratic party and laughed at by the GOP.2. It certainly would not have advanced or passed.3. Kilili would not get re-elected this year(because almost every citizen here opposes green cards/citizenship) and the fine representation we now have would have been lost on a case that can't be won4. We would have a Ben Fitial/Willie T puppet Rep with Deanne and Howard as advisors scheming to allow workers to stay forever without any rights and minimal protections

When you have 40 people in a sinking boat and your rescue craft holds 15, do you load the small craft with children first or whine and complain? 1466 is a savior for many children here and now it is dead, so was the answer sink the rescue boat for spite or some unknown agenda?

This has been a tragic consequence of federalization but maybe Rabby will get it all fixed on his DC lobby junket

12:54 Spoiler. Good spin, but major fail. Your facts are faulty and so is your logic.

There is no little raft. Delegate Sablan had command of a freighter that could have held all of the legal, longterm foreign workers. He still does. He made the conscious choice to toss 3/4 overboard and to offer 1/4 an inferior, un-American status. He is not a rescuer -he is the one throwing bodies in the ocean.

Perhaps you do not know that he missed the time window when he could have passed a bill calling for permanent residency for all ( I was reminded of this by a person on the Hill). He choose to stick it to the majority of the workers to gain "his peoples" votes. He is not a hero by any means. Why wouldn't a member of Congress support 12,000 - 14,000 LEGAL aliens in a distant place getting permanent residency if Sablan had lobbied for this when we had control of both houses!? This is in his hands. He pulls the strings on this issue -the members defer to the member whose district is affected. If any member of Congress would oppose under 15,000 legal foreign workers being given green cards, then he/she should find a more suitable job - perhaps polishing the devil's shoes or something more suited to their skills and more fitting their broken moral compasses.

This Rep.'s accusing the one who does the exact same as he did! Why would someone who says all the good and true things Rep. G said, not support green cards for NMI's legal workers? What's wrong with this guy? Snake tongue?

7:15 Why would they put that at the bottom of the sign? MOST of the LEGAL foreign workers in the CNMI do NOT have a US citizen spouse or relative who can petition them now or down the road and most do not have a job that leads to permanent residency etc. What paperwork would they fill out? I am sure anyone who was offered a green card would be more than happy to fill out the paperwork. Furthermore, if their criminal employers decide to actually pay them, then they could afford the fees for any processing.